Thank you.
Tapper. We have been through a lot together. As I look through the room,
I see Jake, Mike, Herman, Ann Compton. Just seemed like yesterday that
-- that I was on the campaign trail and you were analyzing my speeches
and my policies. And I see a lot of faces that travel with me around the
world and -- to places like Afghanistan and Iraq and Africa. I see some
new faces, which goes to show there's some turnover in this business.

Through it all, it's been --
I have respected you. Sometimes didn't like the stories that you wrote
or reported on. Sometimes you "misunderestimated" me. But always the
relationship I have felt has been professional. And I appreciate it.

I appreciate -- I do
appreciate working with you. My friends say, what is it like to deal
with the press corps? I said, these are just people trying to do the
best they possibly can.

And so here at the last
press conference, I'm interested in answering some of your questions.
But mostly I'm interested in saying thank you for the job.

Ben.

Question: Thank you for those
comments, Mr. President. Here's a question. I'm wondering if you plan to
ask Congress for the remaining 350 billion dollars in bail money. And in
terms of the timing, if you do that before you leave office, sir, are
you motivated in part to make life a little easier for President-Elect
Obama?

President Bush: I have talked
to the President-elect about this subject. And I told him that if he
felt that he needed the 350 billion dollars, I would be willing to ask
for it. In other words, if he felt it needed to happen on my watch.

The best course of action,
of course, is to convince enough members of the Senate to vote
positively for the -- for the request. And, you know, that's all I can
share with you, because that's all I know.

Question: So you haven't made the
request yet?

President Bush: Well, he
hasn't asked me to make the request yet. And I don't intend to make the
request unless he specifically asks me to make it.

He's -- you know, I've had
my third conversation with him, and I genuinely mean what I say. I wish
him all the very best. I've found him to be a very smart and engaging
person. And that lunch the other day was interesting, to have two guys
who are nearly 85, two 62-year-olders, and a 47-year-old -- kind of the
classic generational statement.

And one common area, at
least the four of us, we all had different circumstances and
experiences, but one thing is we've all experienced what it means to
assume the responsibility of the presidency. And President-Elect Obama
is fixing to do that. And he'll get sworn in, and then they'll have the
lunch and all the -- you know, all the deal up there on Capitol Hill.
And then he'll come back and go through the inauguration and then he'll
walk in the Oval Office, and there will be a moment when the
responsibilities of the President land squarely on his shoulders.

Toby. Yes, we'll get
everybody.

Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Do you believe that the Gaza conflict will have ended by the time you
leave office? Do you approve of the way that Israel has conducted it?
And why were you unable to achieve the peace deal that you had sought?

President Bush: Remind me of
the three points, will you, because I'm getting --

Question: Will it end --

President Bush: -- I'm
getting a little older.

Question: Will it end by the time
you leave office? Do you approve of the --

President Bush: I hope so.
I'm for a sustainable cease-fire. And a definition of a sustainable
cease-fire is that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. And there
will not be a sustainable cease-fire if they continue firing rockets. I
happen to believe the choice is Hamas's to make. And we believe that the
best way to ensure that there is a sustainable cease-fire is to work
with Egypt to stop the smuggling of arms into the Gaza that enables
Hamas to continue to fire rockets. And so countries that supply weapons
to Hamas have got to stop. And the international community needs to
continue to pressure them to stop providing weapons.

Hamas, obviously, if they're
interested in a sustainable cease-fire, needs to stop arming. And then,
of course, countries contingent to the Gaza need to work to stop the
smuggling. And it's a difficult -- difficult task. I mean, there's
tunnels and, you know, great opportunities for people who want to
continue to try to disrupt democracy to provide the weapons to do so.

Second part of your
question, please, ma'am?

Question: Do you approve of the
Israeli conduct in this?

President Bush: I think
Israel has a right to defend herself. Obviously in any of these kinds of
situations, I would hope that she would continue to be mindful of
innocent folks, and that they help, you know, expedite the delivery of
humanitarian aid.

And third, why haven't we
achieved peace? That's a good question. It's been a long time since
they've had peace in the Middle East. Step one is to have a vision for
what peace would look like. And in 2002, on the steps of the Rose
Garden, I gave a speech about a two-state solution -- two states, two
democracies living side by side in peace. And we have worked hard to
advance that idea. First thing is to convince all parties that the two
states were necessary for peace.

And one thing that's
happened is, is that most people in the Middle East now accept the
two-state solution as the best way for peace. Most Palestinians want
their own state, and most Israelis understand there needs to be a
democracy on their border in order for there to be long-lasting peace.

The challenge, of course,
has been to lay out the conditions so that a peaceful state can emerge
-- in other words, helping the Palestinians in the West Bank develop
security forces, which we have worked hard to do over the past years.
And those security forces are now becoming more efficient, and Prime
Minister Fayyad is using them effectively. The challenge is to develop
-- help the Palestinians develop a democracy -- I mean, and a vibrant
economy in their -- that will help lead to democracy.

And the challenge, of
course, is always complicated by the fact that people are willing to
murder to stop the advance of freedom. And so the -- Hamas, or for that
matter al Qaeda, or other extremist groups, are willing to use violence
to prevent free states from emerging. And that's the big challenge.

And so the answer is -- will
this ever happen? I think it will. And I know we have advanced the
process.

Yes, Suzanne. Finally got
your name right, after how many years? Six years?

Question: Eight years.

President Bush: Eight years.
You used to be known as Suzanne. Now you're "Suz-ahn."

Question: "Suz-ahn." Thank you.

President Bush: I'm "Gahge."

Question: In your 2002 State of the
Union address, you identified U.S. threats as an axis of evil -- Iran,
Iraq and North Korea. Iraq is relatively calm; North Korea is no longer
on the terrorist threat list. How would you define, if, in fact, there
is an axis of evil? And what is the greatest and most urgent threat when
it comes to security that Barack Obama has to deal with?

President Bush: The most
urgent threat that he'll have to deal with, and other Presidents after
him will have to deal with, is an attack on our homeland. You know, I
wish I could report that's not the case, but there's still an enemy out
there that would like to inflict damage on America -- Americans. And
that will be the major threat.

North Korea is still a
problem. There is a debate in the intel community about how big a
problem they are. But one of my concerns is that there might be a highly
enriched uranium program. And therefore it is really important that out
of the six-party talks comes a strong verification regime. In other
words, in order to advance our relations with North Korea, the North
Korean government must honor the commitments it made to allow for strong
verification measures to be in place, to ensure that they don't develop
a highly enriched uranium program, for example.

So they're still dangerous,
and Iran is still dangerous.

Yes.

Question: You said in an interview
earlier this weekend, one of these, I guess, exit interviews, that --

President Bush: This is the
ultimate exit interview.

Question: -- that you think the
Republican Party needs to be more inclusive. Who needs to hear that
message inside the Republican Party?

President Bush: You see, I am
concerned that, in the wake of the defeat, that the temptation will be
to look inward and to say, well, here's a litmus test you must adhere
to.

This party will come back.
But the party's message has got to be that different points of view are
included in the party. And -- take, for example, the immigration debate.
That's obviously a highly contentious issue. And the problem with the
outcome of the initial round of the debate was that some people said,
well, Republicans don't like immigrants. Now, that may be fair or
unfair, but that's what -- that's the image that came out.

And, you know, if the image
is we don't like immigrants, then there's probably somebody else out
there saying, well, if they don't like the immigrants, they probably
don't like me, as well. And so my point was, is that our party has got
to be compassionate and broad-minded.

I remember the 1964
elections. My dad happened to be running for the United State Senate
then and, you know, got landslided with the Johnson landslide in the
state of Texas. But it wasn't just George Bush who got defeated; the
Republican Party was pretty well decimated at the time. At least that's
what they -- I think that's how the pundits viewed it. And then '66
there was a resurgence. And the same thing can happen this time, but we
just got to make sure our message is broad-gauged and compassionate;
that we care about people's lives, and we've got a plan to help them
improve their lives.

Jake, yes. How you doing?

Question: I'm good. How you doing,
sir?

President Bush: So what have
you been doing since 2000 -- never mind.

Question: Working my way to this
chair.

President Bush: So are you
going to be here for President Obama?

Question: I will. I will.

President Bush: That's a
pretty cool job.

Question: It's not bad.

President Bush: Yes.

Question: Yours might be better.

President Bush: Yes -- what,
retirement?

Question: In the past, when you've
been asked to address bad poll numbers or your own popularity, you've
said that history will judge that you did the right thing, that you
thought you did the right thing. But without getting into your motives
or your goals, I think a lot of people, including Republicans, including
some members of your own administration, have been disappointed at the
execution of some of your ideals, whether Iraq or Katrina or the
economy. What would your closing message be to the American people about
the execution of these goals?

President Bush: Well, first
of all, hard things don't happen overnight, Jake. And when the history
of Iraq is written, historians will analyze, for example, the decision
on the surge. The situation was -- looked like it was going fine and
then violence for a period of time began to throw -- throw the progress
of Iraq into doubt. And rather than accepting the status quo and saying,
oh, it's not worth it or the politics makes it difficult or, you know,
the party may end up being -- you know, not doing well in the elections
because of the violence in Iraq, I decided to do something about it --
and sent 30,000 troops in as opposed to withdrawing.

And so that part of history
is certain, and the situation did change. Now the question is, in the
long run, will this democracy survive? And that's going to be the
challenge for future Presidents.

In terms of the economy,
look, I inherited a recession, I am ending on a recession. In the
meantime there were 52 months of uninterrupted job growth. And I
defended tax cuts when I campaigned, I helped implement tax cuts when I
was President, and I will defend them after my presidency as the right
course of action. And there's a fundamental philosophical debate about
tax cuts. Who best can spend your money, the government or you? And I
have always sided with the people on that issue.

Now, obviously these are
very difficult economic times. When people analyze the situation, there
will be -- this problem started before my presidency, it obviously took
place during my presidency. The question facing a President is not when
the problem started, but what did you do about it when you recognized
the problem. And I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free
market principles when I was told by chief economic advisors that the
situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression.

So I've told some of my
friends who said -- you know, who have taken an ideological position on
this issue -- why did you do what you did? I said, well, if you were
sitting there and heard that the depression could be greater than the
Great Depression, I hope you would act too, which I did. And we've taken
extraordinary measures to deal with the frozen credit markets, which
have affected the economy. Credit spreads are beginning to shrink;
lending is just beginning to pick up. The actions we have taken, I
believe, have helped thaw the credit markets, which is the first step
toward recovery.

And so, yes, look, there's
plenty of critics in this business; I understand that. And I thank you
for giving me a chance to defend a record that I am going to continue to
defend, because I think it's a good, strong record.

Jim.

Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
I'd also like to ask you about your critics.

President Bush: Sure. You
know any?

Question: Well, a couple years ago,
Charles Krauthammer, columnist and Harvard-trained psychiatrist, coined
a term, "Bush derangement syndrome," to talk about your critics who
disagreed with you most passionately -- not just your policies, but
seemed to take an animosity towards you. I'm just wondering, as you look
back, why you think you engendered such passionate criticism, animosity,
and do you have any message specifically to those -- to that particular
part of the spectrum of your critics?

President Bush: You know,
most people I see, you know, when I'm moving around the country, for
example, they're not angry. And they're not hostile people. And they --
we never meet people who disagree, that's just not true. I've met a lot
of people who don't agree with the decisions I make. But they have been
civil in their discourse.

And so, I view those who get
angry and yell and say bad things and, you know, all that kind of stuff,
it's just a very few people in the country. I don't know why they get
angry. I don't know why they get hostile. It's not the first time,
however, in history that people have expressed themselves in sometimes
undignified ways. I've been reading, you know, a lot about Abraham
Lincoln during my presidency, and there was some pretty harsh discord
when it came to the 16th President, just like there's been harsh discord
for the 43rd President.

You know, Presidents can try
to avoid hard decisions and therefore avoid controversy. That's just not
my nature. I'm the kind of person that, you know, is willing to take on
hard tasks, and in times of war people get emotional; I understand that.
Never really, you know, spent that much time, frankly, worrying about
the loud voices. I of course hear them, but they didn't affect my
policy, nor did they affect -- affect how I made decisions.

You know, the --
President-Elect Obama will find this, too. He'll get in the Oval Office
and there will be a lot of people that are real critical and harsh, and
he'll be disappointed at times by the tone of the rhetoric. And he's
going to have to do what he thinks is right, Jim. And if you don't, then
I don't see how you can live with yourself. I don't see how I can get
back home in Texas and look in the mirror and be proud of what I see if
I allowed the loud voices, the loud critics, to prevent me from doing
what I thought was necessary to protect this country.

Mike.

Question: Mr. President, thank you
very much. Since your philosophy is so different from President-Elect
Obama's, what concerns you the most about what he may attempt to do?

President Bush: You know,
Michael, I'm not going to speculate about what he's going to do. It's
going to be -- you know, he's going to get in the Oval Office, he's
going to analyze each situation, and he's going to make the decisions
that he think is necessary.

And the other thing is, when
I get out of here, I'm getting off the stage. I believe there ought to
be, you know, one person in the klieg lights at a time, and I've had my
time in the klieg lights. You know, I'm confident, you know, you'll
catch me opining on occasion, but I wish him all the best.

And people say, oh, you just
-- that's just a throwaway line. No, it's not a throwaway line. The
stakes are high. There is an enemy that still is out there. You know,
people can maybe try to write that off as, you know, he's trying to set
something up. I'm telling you there's an enemy that would like to attack
America, Americans, again. There just is. That's the reality of the
world. And I wish him all the very best.

And of course, he's going to
have his hands full with the economy. I understand. It's tough for a lot
of working people out there. The people are concerned about their
economic future. You know, one of the very difficult parts of the
decision I made on the financial crisis was to use hardworking people's
money to help prevent there to be a crisis, and in so doing, some of
that money went into Wall Street firms that caused the crisis in the
first place. I wasn't kidding when I said Wall Street got drunk and we
got the hangover. And -- but nevertheless, President-Elect Obama will
find the problems and the situations surrounding problems sometimes
cause people to have to make decisions that they, you know, weren't
initially comfortable with. And there was such a decision when it came
to Wall Street.

I mean, I had a lot of
people -- when I went out to Midland that time -- say, what the heck are
you doing? Those people up East caused the problem. I said, I know, but
if we hadn't worked to fix the problem, your situation would be worse.
And -- anyway, I really do wish him all the best.

Sheryl.

Question: Thank you, Mr. President.
Mr. President, in recent days, there's been a fair amount of discussion
in legal circles about whether or not you might give preemptive pardons,
pardons in advance, to officials of your administration who engaged in
anything from harsh interrogation tactics to perhaps dismissing U.S.
attorneys. I'd like to know, have you given any consideration to this?
And are you planning on it?

President Bush: I won't be
discussing pardons here at this press conference.

Question: Can I have a follow-up?

President Bush: Would you
like to ask another question?

Question: Yes, I would, sir. Thank
you. Four years ago --

President Bush: That's the
spirit, isn't it?

Question: I appreciate that.

President Bush: Thank you.

Question: Four years ago, you were
asked if you had made any mistakes.

President Bush: Yes.

Question: And I'm not trying to play
"gotcha," but I wonder, when you look back over the long arc of your
presidency, do you think, in retrospect, that you have made any
mistakes? And if so, what is the single biggest mistake that you may
have made?

President Bush: Gotcha. I
have often said that history will look back and determine that which
could have been done better, or, you know, mistakes I made. Clearly
putting a "Mission Accomplished" on a aircraft carrier was a mistake. It
sent the wrong message. We were trying to say something differently, but
nevertheless, it conveyed a different message. Obviously, some of my
rhetoric has been a mistake.

I've thought long and hard
about Katrina -- you know, could I have done something differently, like
land Air Force One either in New Orleans or Baton Rouge. The problem
with that and -- is that law enforcement would have been pulled away
from the mission. And then your questions, I suspect, would have been,
how could you possibly have flown Air Force One into Baton Rouge, and
police officers that were needed to expedite traffic out of New Orleans
were taken off the task to look after you?

I believe that running the
Social Security idea right after the '04 elections was a mistake. I
should have argued for immigration reform. And the reason why is, is
that -- you know, one of the lessons I learned as governor of Texas, by
the way, is legislative branches tend to be risk-adverse. In other
words, sometimes legislatures have the tendency to ask, why should I
take on a hard task when a crisis is not imminent? And the crisis was
not imminent for Social Security as far as many members of Congress was
concerned.

As an aside, one thing I
proved is that you can actually campaign on the issue and get elected.
In other words, I don't believe talking about Social Security is the
third rail of American politics. I, matter of fact, think that in the
future, not talking about how you intend to fix Social Security is going
to be the third rail of American politics.

One thing about the
presidency is that you can make -- only make decisions, you know, on the
information at hand. You don't get to have information after you've made
the decision. That's not the way it works. And you stand by your
decisions, and you do your best to explain why you made the decisions
you made.

There have been
disappointments. Abu Ghraib obviously was a huge disappointment during
the presidency. Not having weapons of mass destruction was a significant
disappointment. I don't know if you want to call those mistakes or not,
but they were -- things didn't go according to plan, let's put it that
way.

Anyway, I think historians
will look back and they'll be able to have a better look at mistakes
after some time has passed. Along Jake's question, there is no such
thing as short-term history. I don't think you can possibly get the full
breadth of an administration until time has passed: Where does a
President's -- did a President's decisions have the impact that he
thought they would, or he thought they would, over time? Or how did this
President compare to future Presidents, given a set of circumstances
that may be similar or not similar? I mean, there's -- it's just
impossible to do. And I'm comfortable with that.

Yes, Mike.

Question: One of the major
objectives that the incoming administration has talked frequently about
is restoring America's moral standing in the world. And many of the
allies of the new President -- I believe that the President-elect
himself has talked about the damage that Gitmo, that harsh interrogation
tactics that they consider torture, how going to war in Iraq without a
U.N. mandate have damaged America's moral standing in the world. I'm
wondering basically what is your reaction to that? Do you think that is
that something that the next President needs to worry about?

President Bush: I strongly
disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged.
It may be damaged amongst some of the elite, but people still understand
America stands for freedom, that America is a country that provides such
great hope.

You go to Africa, you ask
Africans about America's generosity and compassion; go to India, and ask
about, you know, America's -- their view of America. Go to China and
ask. Now, no question parts of Europe have said that we shouldn't have
gone to war in Iraq without a mandate, but those are a few countries.
Most countries in Europe listened to what 1441 said, which is disclose,
disarm or face serious consequences.

Most people take those words
seriously. Now, some countries didn't -- even though they might have
voted for the resolution. I disagree with this assessment that, you
know, people view America in a dim light. I just don't agree with that.
And I understand that Gitmo has created controversies. But when it came
time for those countries that were criticizing America to take some of
those -- some of those detainees, they weren't willing to help out. And
so, you know, I just disagree with the assessment, Mike.

I'll remind -- listen, I
tell people, yes, you can try to be popular. In certain quarters in
Europe, you can be popular by blaming every Middle Eastern problem on
Israel. Or you can be popular by joining the International Criminal
Court. I guess I could have been popular by accepting Kyoto, which I
felt was a flawed treaty, and proposed something different and more
constructive.

And in terms of the
decisions that I had made to protect the homeland, I wouldn't worry
about popularity. What I would worry about is the Constitution of the
United States, and putting plans in place that makes it easier to find
out what the enemy is thinking, because all these debates will matter
not if there's another attack on the homeland. The question won't be,
you know, were you critical of this plan or not; the question is going
to be, why didn't you do something?

Do you remember what it was
like right after September the 11th around here? In press conferences
and opinion pieces and in stories -- that sometimes were news stories
and sometimes opinion pieces -- people were saying, how come they didn't
see it, how come they didn't connect the dots? Do you remember what the
environment was like in Washington? I do. When people were hauled up in
front of Congress and members of Congress were asking questions about,
how come you didn't know this, that, or the other? And then we start
putting policy in place -- legal policy in place to connect the dots,
and all of a sudden people were saying, how come you're connecting the
dots?

And so, Mike, I've heard all
that. I've heard all that. My view is, is that most people around the
world, they respect America. And some of them doesn't like me, I
understand that -- some of the writers and the, you know, opiners and
all that. That's fine, that's part of the deal. But I'm more concerned
about the country and our -- how people view the United States. They
view us as strong, compassionate people who care deeply about the
universality of freedom.

Roger.

Question: Thank you. Mr. President,
you spoke a moment ago about using taxpayers' money for the TARP
program.

President Bush: Yes, I did.

Question: The first $350 billion is
out the door, it's been spent. Are you satisfied that it's been spent
wisely? And for the second $350 billion that's under consideration, do
you think -- are you supportive of Congress putting some restrictions on
it?

President Bush: I'm
supportive of the President-elect working out a plan with Congress that
best suits him -- and Congress. That's what he's going to have to do.
He's going to have to go up there and he's going to have to make his
case as to why the 350 [billion dollars] is necessary. And he knows
that. This is nothing new.

And in terms of the first
350 [billion dollars,] I am pleased with this aspect of the expenditure,
and that is that the financial markets are beginning to thaw. In the
fall, I was concerned that the credit freeze would cause us to be headed
toward a depression greater than the Great Depression. That's what I was
told, if we didn't move. And so, therefore, we have moved aggressively.

And by the way, it just
wasn't with the TARP. If you think about AIG, Fannie and Freddie -- a
lot of the decisions that were made in this administration are very
aggressive decisions, all aiming at preventing the financial system from
cratering.

Question: Mr. President, you spoke
of the moment that the responsibility of the office would hit Barack
Obama. The world is a far different place than it was when it hit you.
When do you think he's going to feel the full impact? And what, if
anything, have you and the other Presidents shared with him about the
effects of the sometimes isolation, the so-called bubble of the office?

President Bush: Yes, that's a
great question. He'll -- he will feel the effects the minute he walks in
the Oval Office. At least, that's when I felt. I don't know when he's
going -- he may feel it the minute he's -- gets sworn in. And the minute
I got sworn in, I started thinking about the speech. And so -- but he's
a better speech-maker than me, so he'll be able to -- he'll be able to
-- I don't know how he's going to feel. All I know is he's going to feel
it. There will be a moment when he feels it.

I have never felt isolated
and I don't think he will. One reason he won't feel isolated is because
he's got a fabulous family and he cares a lot about his family. That's
evident from my discussions with him. He'll be -- he's a 45-second
commute away from a great wife and two little girls that love him
dearly.

I believe this -- the phrase
"burdens of the office" is overstated. You know, it's kind of like, why
me? Oh, the burdens, you know. Why did the financial collapse have to
happen on my watch? It's just -- it's pathetic, isn't it, self-pity. And
I don't believe that President-Elect Obama will be full of self-pity. He
will find -- you know, your -- the people that don't like you, the
critics, they're pretty predictable. Sometimes the biggest
disappointments will come from your so-called friends. And there will be
disappointments, I promise you. He'll be disappointed. On the other
hand, the job is so exciting and so profound that the disappointments
will be clearly, you know, a minor irritant compared to the --

Question: It was never the
"loneliest office in the world" for you?

President Bush: No, not for
me. We had a -- people -- we -- I had a fabulous team around me of
highly dedicated, smart, capable people, and we had fun. I tell people
that, you know, some days happy, some days not so happy, every day has
been joyous. And people, they say, I just don't believe it to be the
case. Well, it is the case. Even in the darkest moments of Iraq, you
know, there was -- and every day when I was reading the reports about
soldiers losing their lives, no question there was a lot of emotion, but
also there was times where we could be light-hearted and support each
other.

And I built a team of really
capable people who were there not to serve me, or there to serve the
Republicans, they were there to serve the country. And President-Elect
Obama will find, as he makes these tough calls and tough decisions, that
he'll be supported by a lot of really good people that care -- care
about the country, as well.

John.

Question: You've talked a lot about
your concerns over the rise of protectionism in the current --

President Bush: Yes.

Question: -- economic environment.
What do you think the future holds for that? Do you think the trend is a
good one or a bad one?

President Bush: I hope the
trend is bad against protectionism. A disappointment -- not a mistake,
but a disappointment -- was not getting the three trade bills out of
Congress on Colombia, Panama and South Korea. That was a disappointment.
I actually thought we had a shot at one time, and then I was
disappointed that they didn't move out of the House.

And I am concerned about
protectionism. In tough economic times, the temptation is to say, well,
let's just throw up barriers and protect our own and not compete. That
was the sentiment, by the way, that was in place during decent economic
times. After all, we got CAFTA out of the Congress by one vote. And it
would be a huge mistake if we become a protectionist nation.

And that might be a good
thing for the Bush center to do at SMU, is to remind people about the
benefits of free and fair trade -- benefits for our own workers,
benefits for workers overseas, and benefits when it comes to promoting
development and helping lift people out of poverty, in particularly,
third world countries. The best way to enhance economic growth in a
third world country and to give people a chance to realize a better
future is through trade. It's been proven, it's a fact. And I'm hopeful
that the country doesn't slip into protectionist policy.

April, yes, ma'am.

Question: Thank you, Mr. President.

President Bush: Yes. You were
sound asleep back there, so I decided --

Question: No, I wasn't. There was a
whole clear row before me. I thought you were going to go there. But
either way, thanks for the surprise.

Mr. President, on New
Orleans, you basically talked about a moment ago about the photo
opportunity. But let's talk about what you could have done to change the
situation for the city of New Orleans to be further along in
reconstruction than where it is now. And also, when you came -- or began
to run for the Oval Office about nine years ago or so, the James Byrd
dragging death was residue on your campaign. And now at this time, 2009,
we have the first black President. Could you tell us what you have seen
on the issues of race, as you see it from the Oval Office?

President Bush: Sure, thanks.
First of all, we did get the $121 billion, more or less, passed, and
it's now being spent. Secondly, the school system is improving
dramatically. Thirdly, people are beginning to move back into homes.
This storm was a devastating storm, April, that required a lot of
energy, a lot of focus and a lot of resources to get New Orleans up and
running.

And has the reconstruction
been perfect? No. Have things happened fairly quickly? Absolutely. And
is there more to be done? You bet there is.

Question: What more needs to be
done?

President Bush: Well, more
people need to get in their houses. More people need to have their own
home there. But the systems are in place to continue the reconstruction
of New Orleans.

People said, well, the
federal response was slow. Don't tell me the federal response was slow
when there was 30,000 people pulled off roofs right after the storm
passed. I remember going to see those helicopter drivers, Coast Guard
drivers, to thank them for their courageous efforts to rescue people off
roofs. Thirty thousand people were pulled off roofs right after the
storm moved through. It's a pretty quick response.

Could things have been done
better? Absolutely. Absolutely. But when I hear people say, the federal
response was slow, then what are they going to say to those chopper
drivers, or the 30,000 that got pulled off the roofs?

The other part of the --
look, I was affected by the TV after the elections -- when I saw people
saying, I never thought I would see the day that a black person would be
elected President, and a lot of the people had tears streaming down
their cheeks when they said it. And so I am -- I am -- consider myself
fortunate to have a front-row seat on what is going to be an historic
moment for the country. President-Elect Obama's election does speak
volumes about how far this country has come when it comes to racial
relations. But there's still work to do. There's always going to be work
to do to deal with people's hearts.

And so I'm looking forward
to it, really am. I think it's going to be -- it's going to be an
amazing -- amazing moment.

Michael Allen -- yes,
Michael Allen.

Question: Mr. President --

President Bush: Who would be
you.

Q Mr. President, often
Presidents go -- leave here; they say they're going to decompress, and
then pretty soon they're right back in their office. I wonder how
quickly you think you're going to be back at it, whether it's writing
your book, whether it's speaking, whether it's traveling, whether it's
--

President Bush: You know,
Mike, I don't know. Probably the next day. I'm a Type A personality, you
know, I just -- I just can't envision myself, you know, the big straw
hat and Hawaiian shirt sitting on some beach.

Question: No one else can, either.

President Bush: So --
Particularly since I quit drinking. Anyway, so I predict to you that --
first of all, I'm not sure what to expect. For the last eight years I've
had a national security briefing every day but Sunday. And when you get
a national security briefing, it is a reminder of the responsibilities
of the job. It's just a daily reminder about what may or may not happen.

The interesting thing about
this job, by the way, is it's one thing to deal with the expected, what
you anticipate; the real challenge is to be in a position to deal with
the unexpected. And that's why those intel briefings are so important,
because there is -- there's an awareness in the briefings by the analyst
to try to help anticipate problems. And of course you hope they don't
arise, but you better be prepared when they do.

And that in itself creates a
-- you know, gets your attention, when you start thinking about what
could happen. And the key there, of course, is that -- to take these
different analyses seriously, and then have a structure so that your
team will be in a position to analyze and then lay out potential avenues
for the President -- from which the President can choose.

I say all that because
that's -- this has been -- this notion about being briefed and thinking
about this issue or that issue has been just a part of my life for eight
years. People say, well, there you are in Crawford on vacation. You
never escape the presidency. It travels with you everywhere you go. And
there's not a moment where you don't think about being President --
unless you're riding mountain bikes as hard as you possibly can, trying
to forget for the moment.

And so I wake up in Crawford
Tuesday morning -- I mean, Wednesday morning, and I suspect I'll make
Laura coffee and go get it for her. And it's going to be a different
feeling. And I can't -- it's kind of like -- I'll report back after I
feel it.

Last question. Ann -- since
you've been there from day one.

Question: Thank you -- and I wanted
to ask you about day one. You arrived here wanting to be a uniter, not a
divider. Do you think Barack Obama can be a uniter, not a divider? Or is
-- with the challenges for any President and the unpopular decisions, is
it impossible for any President to be uniter, not a divider?

President Bush: I hope the
tone is different for him than it has been for me. I am disappointed by
the tone in Washington, D.C. I tried to do my part by not engaging in
the name-calling and -- and by the way, needless name-calling. I have
worked to be respectful of my opponents on different issues.

There -- we did find some
good common ground on a variety of issues -- No Child Left Behind,
Medicare/prescription drugs, PEPFAR, in the end, the funding for troops
in Iraq. Tax cuts, to a certain extent, got some bipartisan votes on
them. There had been areas where we were able to work together. It's
just the rhetoric got out of control at times --

Question: Why?

President Bush: I don't know
why. You need to ask those who -- those who used the words they used. As
I say, it's not the first time it's ever happened -- as I think I
answered that to Jim, there. It's happened throughout our history. And I
would hope that, frankly, for the sake of the system itself, that if
people disagree with President-Elect Obama, they treat him with respect.
I worry about people looking at our system and saying, why would I want
to go up there and work in that kind of environment?

And so I wish him all the
best. And no question he'll be -- there will be critics. And there
should be. We all should welcome criticism on different policy -- it's
the great thing about our democracy; people have a chance to express
themselves. I just hope the tone is respectful. He deserves it -- and so
does the country.

It has been a honor to work
with you. I meant what I said when I first got up here. I wish you all
the very best. I wish you and your families all the best.